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Topic: Magnetizing Blood Angels! (Read 4613 times)

Hello once again for another post about how to get the most out of your model kits with the help of Magnets!

Todays kits are: Death Company troops and Blood Angels Dreadnought!

Now obviously the Dreadnought shouldn't be too bad, as I've magnetized similarly sized models before many times (helbrutes in case you didnt know). But magnetizing the Death company troops was a true challenge. I've only rarely worked with really small magnets on small models before so it was definitely tricky. But after alot of work, some broken bits and loosing a few magnets I was able to fully magnetize both sets completely!

Now when I say "magnetize" I mean that all additional options for each kit have been modified with magnets in them. Allowing me to swap out any and all wargear for any option I choose.For example the Blood Angels Dreadnought kit comes with enough parts to make 3 different units! You can make either a Furiouso dreadnought, a Librarian Dreadnought, or a Death company Dread. Normally you'd just glue the kit as whatever model you think you'd need or looks the coolest and just be done with it. But with the help of a few dozen magnets, I was able to have a dreadnought that can be made into any of its 3 variants with ease. Because I'm OCD and I need to have all of the BA dreadnoughts. Plus I HATE seeing nice bits wasting away in limbo forever. And the BA kits have such lovely pieces too.

Now the idea for the Death Company troops was simple for me, I couldnt decide on what wargear to give each troop. Also I never could decide between Jetpacks or regular backpacks. So I stuck a whole bunch of magnets into literally every weapon available so I can outfit my DC troops however I see fit. Maybe I want all my DC guys to have max specialty options. Maybe I want them all to have jetpacks and just chainswords and bolt pistols. Maybe I want them all to be regular and just have backpacks and bolters (it could happen....). And just like I said, the DC kit comes with so many beautiful pieces of wargear. Such lovely chainswords and bolters. Even their backpacks look nice! That was the main reason I magnetized all their options, so I can build them however I want them depending on the situation.

I don't believe I'll ever actually use these BA models for games (all hail CHAOS!) so the models will be for showcasing mostly. I won't have to worry about how strong the magnets hold them together.

Now, without further pointless exposition, lets see the Magnetized Blood Angels!!!

It has all the pictures I'll be uploading for this project. But I'll upload a few here just for !@#$s and giggles.

First few pictures are of the models in the maximum built stage. Meaning that this is as much gluing as I'll be doing. Everything else will get magnets and be detachable. The Dread body and legs are fully glued, as are all its weapon options.The marines are assembled as far as their legs, bodies and heads are concerned. And their jetpacks are assembled as well.

The last pic is an idea of what each marine will get. For OCD reasons, each marine has their own "personal" set of wargear. Even though all weapon options will be interchangeable between any member, each marine will have his own stuff. The last pic is of Patient Zero. Also named Marinus.His wargear includes: One backpack, one jetpack, one set of bolter arms (with shoulderpads), two CC shoulderpads, and three CC weapon options. The CC options are a chainsword, plasma pistol and bolt pistol.Each marine has a balanced array of wargear, but the basic gear for each is jet/backpacks, a set of bolter arms, a chainsword and bolt pistol set, then each gets some extra specialty wargear. Marinus here drew the short straw and only has one extra weapon option (thats all that was in the kit).

The central mass (body) has three 1/8 magnets in it. One in the back for its jetpack and backpack. And one in each shoulder, for the various weapon options.

The jetpack and backpacks have 1/8th magnets in them.

There is one 1/8th magnet in each bolter arm and CC shoulder. Now, because the kit only had enough shoulderpads for 10 sets of arms (20 pads total = 4 shoulderpads for each marine = one set for bolters, and one set for CC options) I couldnt outfit each CC weapon arm with a shoulder pad. So the only option was to take the CC shoulder pads, and glue them to just a shoulder joint, then cut it off at the elbow. That way, the one right side shoulder can have any number of right sided arm options. With each arm option being cut off at the upper arm.

There is also one 1/16th magnet in each CC shoulder, and one 1/16th magnet in each CC arm option.

Already you're probably thinking "so many magnets...." and you would be right. In total for the DC troops alone, I used 45 1/8th magnets, and 36 1/16th magnets just for their options. Luckily I still had a large supply of them around.

The next few pics are of Marinus (Patient Zero) in the various positions he can be in with the new magnet options.

Like I said earlier, all these weapon options can be interchangeable. They can all be swapped between any marine. So if captain Raphen decides he's in the mood to smash some faces, Battle Brother Banner is gonna have to give up his power fist.

The next two pics are of just a few ideas of the weapon swapping.

After that is some Dreadnought magnet options!Now I'll admit, getting the options for this dreadnought magnetized was alittle more difficult then I originally suspected. There isnt alot of nice open areas for drilling magnets. Everything is so thin or tightly placed. Luckily I was able to find some nice magnet spots and now I can build any BA dreadnought I want!

The last few pics now are just of the finished models for the Dreadnoughts.

If you have any questions about magnet placements, types of magnets, or tutorials (which will be coming soon to my YouTube channel) please feel free to ask. I'll either answer, post a pic or clip to help with any inquiry you might have.

The last pic is of how the different CC weapons are attached, the Blood Claws or Blood Fists.

Very nicely done, I usually just magnetize backpacks and jump packs, but nice tips on doing the arms at the elbows. Also genius placement for the dreadnought sarcophagi, I'll be borrowing it my next dread build.

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"Descend on Wings of Fury, and Scour the Enemy from the Battlefield" - Battle-Captain Janus Shraub, 3rd Company of the Angels of Sirocco, Successors of the 9th Legion.

Very nicely done, I usually just magnetize backpacks and jump packs, but nice tips on doing the arms at the elbows. Also genius placement for the dreadnought sarcophagi, I'll be borrowing it my next dread build.

Honestly drilling the holes in those spots for the front plates was by far the hardest part for the Dread. There is such a limited amount of space to drill into, even with a 1/16th drillbit. It's definitely not optimal, but it works. Just need a VERY steady hand when drilling.

If anyone else has had better techniques for magnetizing the front plates on, please let me know. I'd be very interested to see what other people have accomplished.